Skip to main content
PlainSpell

vent

/vɛnt/noun, verb

vent is spelled V-E-N-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, vent means “An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of vent is vents.

How many letters and syllables are in vent?

Letters4: V-E-N-T
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing6.3 times per million words; the 9,594th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is vent?

Vent appears 6.3 times per million words in written English, the 9,594th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce vent?

  • /vɛnt/

Vent has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-vent.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of vent

  • vents plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • venting participle, present
  • vented participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does vent mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An opening through which gases, especially air, can pass.

    the vent of a cask; the vent of a mould

  2. 2

    A small aperture.

  3. 3

    An opening in a volcano from which lava or gas flows.

  4. 4

    A rant; a long session of expressing verbal frustration.

  5. 5

    The excretory opening of lower orders of vertebrates; cloaca.

  6. 6

    A slit in the seam of a garment.

  7. 7

    The opening at the breech of a firearm, through which fire is communicated to the powder of the charge.

  8. 8

    In steam boilers, a sectional area of the passage for gases divided by the length of the same passage in feet.

  9. 9

    Ventriloquism.

  10. 10

    obsoleteA baiting place; an inn.

  11. 11

    colloquialClipping of ventilation or ventilator.

    I have adjusted the vent settings.

verb

  1. 1

    To allow gases to escape.

    The stove vents to the outside.

  2. 2

    To allow gases to escape from (a sealed space, container, etc.).

  3. 3

    To allow to escape through a vent.

    Exhaust is vented to the outside.

  4. 4

    To express a strong emotion.

    He vents his anger violently.

  5. 5

    To snuff; to breathe or puff out; to snort.

  6. 6

    To determine the sex of (a chick) by opening up the anal vent or cloaca.

  7. 7

    Of an otter: to emerge from the water to breathe in air.

  8. 8

    slangTo use a vent in the video game Among Us.

  9. 9

    To sell; to vend.

  10. 10

    colloquialTo ventilate; to use a ventilator; to use ventilation.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate vent?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of vent: VES.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Vent in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchbouche d'aération (an opening through which gases, especially air…), cheminée (an opening in a volcano from which lava flows), cloaque (the excretory opening of lower orders of…), évacuer (to allow gases to escape), ventiler (to allow to escape through a vent), donner libre cours (to express a strong emotion)
GermanLuftloch, Öffnung (an opening through which gases, especially air…), Ausbruchkanal (an opening in a volcano from which lava flows), entlüften (to allow gases to escape), abführen (to allow to escape through a vent), ablassen (to express a strong emotion)
Portugueserespiradouro (an opening through which gases, especially air…), desabafar, extravasar (to express a strong emotion)
Spanishchimenea, fumarola (an opening in a volcano from which lava flows), cloaca, ano (the excretory opening of lower orders of…), desahogar (to express a strong emotion)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does vent come from?

Partly from Middle French vent, from Latin ventus and partly from French éventer. Cognate with French vent and Spanish viento (“wind”) and ventana (“window”). Doublet of wind.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after vent